weirengineering
Main
any control or barrier placed in an open channel to permit measurement of water discharge. The latter may be computed from a formula expressing the discharge in terms of crest length of the weir, depth of flow above the weir, weir geometry, and other factors. A variety of weirs have been used in streams, the so-called sharp-crested and trapezoidal forms being relatively common; but broad-crested, triangular, and contracted weirs are also favoured in certain circumstances. Spillways, controls, and embankments designed to permit discharge measurements are simply different kinds of broad-crested weirs.
Citations
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "weir" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.